Gluten free craze growing: Only 1% of Canadians are celiacs, but nine million people are on restricted diet, industry expert claims

Tricia Ryan is keeping a close eye on the gluten-free craze. She provides advice to companies marketing food for this sector, which is projected to grow at a rate of 10% annually in the next several years. On her organization’s website, Ryan says she “trained as a dietitian but evolved her career to include an MBA.” She is not a qualified dietitian in the province of Ontario, however.

Last weekend, my sister, who has celiac disease, and I attended the Gluten Free Expo in Toronto. Since I work with clients who are either following a gluten-free for medical reasons (celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity), and because I’m increasingly asked about whether or not going gluten-free is a good idea (last week, I asked a group of university volleyball players how many were curious about gluten-free diets, and every single hand in the room went up), I knew it would be an easy way to get the latest on the ever-expanding gluten-free marketplace.

As director of the Gluten Free Agency, “a consulting group dedicated to helping advertisers,” Ryan collects data on the rising trend of people eating diets that are either entirely or almost entirely free of gluten: She claims some nine million people in Canada are eating gluten free now, if you include 6% of the population with gluten sensitivity and 22% who are gluten avoiders for non-medical reasons.

One percent of Canadians are celiacs. And of that 1%, 10%, or about 33,000, have been diagnosed. (To undergo the test, people have to resume eating gluten for about a month and many aren’t prepared to suffer through the health effects.)

Ryan gives a graphic description of celiac sufferers’ gluten sensitivity. “Here’s the metaphor. Take one slice of bread, break it into 7,030 pieces. The gluten content in one of those pieces is 20 parts per million. That’s considered the safe level for celiacs and that’s what the law allows under the gluten free certification program.”

‘If your little girl can’t eat bread with wheat or cookies and cakes, are you going to eat it in front of her?’

Of the “adopters’ who avoid gluten for non-medical reasons, 25% do it to lose weight, 25% do it for general health, 40% say they feel better and some avoid it out of sympathy for a family member.

“If your little girl can’t eat bread with wheat or cookies and cakes, are you going to eat it in front of her?” Ryan says.

Among people who cite digestive reasons, Ryan notes that there is new research suggesting the digestive distress might not be caused by gluten but by something that mimics it.

“Science is now looking at FODMAP (acronym for short-chain carbohydrates oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and related alcohols that are present in some foods and are poorly absorbed by the small intestine) and its relation to digestive disorders in some people,” she says.

“Some foods that contain gluten also contain FODMAP, which might be causing the same symptoms.”

A gluten-free diet, Ryan says, is one of the most complicated diets on the planet

On a positive note, she says, some people with damaged intestinal villi can reverse the damage.

“About 46% who have high compliance [to gluten free diet] still have villi damage. Eating out, cross-contamination can affect recovery. It has to be completely gluten free.”

A gluten-free diet, Ryan says, is one of the most complicated diets on the planet.